Contact: Kara Malenfant 312-280-2510 kmalenfant@ala.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 5, 2007 ACRL invites comment on scholarly communication research agenda CHICAGO - A new report by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) explores the gaps in our understanding of the ways that scholars create and share new knowledge. The report lays out a preliminary research agenda for creating greater understanding of the rapidly evolving system of scholarly communication - the way research results and new knowledge are registered, evaluated for quality, disseminated and preserved. Meaningful research about the system of scholarly communication will inform strategic planning for scholarly communication programs. The white paper, "Establishing a Research Agenda for Scholarly Communication: A Call for Community Engagement," encourages academics, librarians and their key partners to gather more data on practices that both enable and inhibit the production of scholarship and its communication. The report identifies eight themes, with research possibilities in each area. The paper resulted from a one-day invitational meeting in July 2007, to collectively brainstorm the evidence needed to manage and influence the changing environment. Attendees included representatives from ACRL, the Association of Research Libraries, the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Coalition for Networked Information, Ithaka, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). ACRL scholarly communication committee co-chairs John Ober of the University of California and Joyce Ogburn of the University of Utah convened the meeting and discuss the report at <http://blogs.ala.org/acrlpodcast.php>. The document is available online for public comment at <http://www.acrl.ala.org/scresearchagenda>. Please submit comments that: * Refine or expand the need for research, important issues and possible projects. * Identify additional articles and reports that collectively form a knowledge base from which the research agenda emerges more clearly. * Suggest ways to conduct the research. * Volunteer to participate or collaborate in a specific research initiative. * Propose additional avenues of distribution for the report. Confidential comments may be emailed to John Ober at John.Ober@ucop.edu or Joyce Ogburn at Joyce.Ogburn@utah.edu. ***